When I found out my time was coming to an end here in China I vowed to try to do as much as possible before going home. At the exact same time my friend Ann, who used to live here in Hong Kong and has now moved back to the States, asked me if I wanted to take a trip with her to Australia. She was going for a wedding and said I could be her date and we could get in some good sightseeing while there! I jumped at the chance and so I took the 9 1/2 hour plane flight to Sydney to meet Ann there. This is the Sydney Harbour Bridge that welcomed me in the very first night I got there! A rather spectacular sight, no?
We spent the first day exploring Sydney's highlights...the Opera House, obviously....
Bondi Beach
We asked this nice man to take this shot of us and I wanted him to take one with Ann's camera too, which was on the ground. He thought I said will you take one on the ground and he laid down on the pavement and took this one! ha! Does that translate funny in writing? It sure was funny in person. Funny with a hint of awkward.
The next day we made our way to the beach where we got in a surfing lesson...
Top 3 most fantastic things we did while there. It was so much fun!
After spending a few days in Sydney we took a flight to Melbourne to begin the wedding weekend festivities. Our hotel in Melbourne was what you could call "shabby chic" with more shab than chic but the lobby had fun stuff to take pics of.
A humongous portrait of the Rolling Stones (at least I think it's the Rolling Stones) hung in the lobby and I made Ann snap a solo shot with it.
We spent a lot of time touring around the main streets of Melbourne but our hotel was in somewhat of a cute residential area where I got this shot....
Downtown Melbourne.....
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the city at the rehearsal dinner that was held at the mother of the bride's house.
If I could have created a perfect travel partner it would be Ann Ball Lawson. She was a BLAST!
We woke up early the next day and rented a car to drive to the wedding site about an hour away in the Yarra Valley which is the "Napa Valley" of Australia. Ann was such a trooper to drive on the opposite side and there were some close calls at points where we almost meandered into the wrong lane but overall, she did a fabulous job. Let's be honest, the entire continent would have banned me from ever returning had I taken the wheel. That was a strict deal breaker for me when planning the trip. I would go, but I WOULD NOT drive.
Getting into the Yarra Valley on a cloudy day....
Vineyards everywhere...
This was the American Crew we hooked up with that came for the wedding as well...
The wedding was a blast and it was so fun to experience an Aussie wedding! This is my, "I'm having a blast" face!
The day after the wedding we took a tour of some of the "bush"
We came across some kangaroos which can get up to 6' high. Who knew, huh?
A pretty creek....
A wallaby which is smaller than a kangaroo and oh so cute....
We left Melbourne the Monday after the wedding and flew to Cairns to visit the Great Barrier Reef. It was super cloudy and windy the day we went to the reef and I got WICKEDLY sick on the boat but the experience was still one of the most incredible ones I've ever had! Ann and I with our coffees before getting on the boat where I would later be oh so sorry I drank that coffee. Live and learn.
Another teachable moment in my day was when the guides asked us to put our "stinger suits" on and I did not get the memo from Ann that I was to wait and only put it halfway on for the photo session. So alas, I look like a crazy weirdo and my fellow travel companion looks like a brunette Cameron Diaz from Charlie's Angels, but the picture makes us laugh, so it was well worth it!
Action shot. You can barely see it, but that's the reef's corral behind/under me.
Some of the fish we saw that day....
So, now I'm back in Hong Kong and the weather has turned into full summer mode. We spent the weekend by the pool and it's already a steamy humid mess outside. "The air so heavy it could drown a butterfly." It makes me think about how long I've been here seeing as Spring marks me having experienced every season in this place. It's bittersweet to think it's over but I am so very grateful for the life experiences I have been a part of. I look forward to coming home and will always treasure this adventure I got to be a part of. So, I guess in essence, this is the end but bonus that I have this blog to always look back on and remember my experience in the Orient.
If I could have created a perfect travel partner it would be Ann Ball Lawson. She was a BLAST!
So, now I'm back in Hong Kong and the weather has turned into full summer mode. We spent the weekend by the pool and it's already a steamy humid mess outside. "The air so heavy it could drown a butterfly." It makes me think about how long I've been here seeing as Spring marks me having experienced every season in this place. It's bittersweet to think it's over but I am so very grateful for the life experiences I have been a part of. I look forward to coming home and will always treasure this adventure I got to be a part of. So, I guess in essence, this is the end but bonus that I have this blog to always look back on and remember my experience in the Orient.
